Big Ride Day 27

Photos from Day 27

Today was a fun, mostly flat day through the Minnesota farmland on the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Highway. Ever since DeSmet, we have seen many signs and historical referring to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Today, we passed through Walnut Grove, which is, I guess, considered to be her home. It was a quaint little town and we stopped for lunch in one of the cafes. The waitresses there told us about the Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant that is a big attraction there -- thousands of people come from all over to see it each summer. We were also stopped in town by this farmer in a pick-up truck who knew what we were doing and told us about his bout with cancer. It was very touching.

We finally made our way through the lakes and farms of Minnesota, stopping along the way to see real live Jackalope, to New Ulm, a quaint little town, fiercely proud of its German heritage. We are lucky enough to be passing through on the weekend of their Heritagefest, a celebration similar to Oktoberfest. After getting settled into camp and eating some dinner, Doug and I decided to check it out. Since we had no way to get there, we managed to stow away on the caterer's truck with these two local girls. It was a fun ride as they showed us the sights -- well, as best they could with no windows in the back of the truck. Heritagefest was a real blast. Just like a mini Oktoberfest. The beer was flowing and there were German bands playing traditional tunes under huge tents. Everyone was singing and dancing -- what a great night. After the Heritagefest, we piled onto one of the city buses, went to a bar, and closed it down before returning to camp for the night. What a great day and great town.

This page modified November 25, 2000